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Democratic Representatives who don’t support Net Neutrality have been supported by telecoms

In May, the Senate passed a joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act that would overturn the Federal Communication Commission’s decision to scrap free internet rules last year. That resolution was then sent to the House, and the Democrats introduced a discharge petition, which, if it gets 218 signatures, will force the House to vote on the resolution even without the recommendation of a committee. The Dems have until December 10 to get 218 signatures, which would require every Democrat and a few Republicans. So far, they have 177 signatures.

That leaves 18 Democrats in the House who have yet to sign the petition, which is, again, the only hope Congress has of voting and passing this resolution to restore net neutrality this year. A Motherboard review of FEC filings shows that each of the representatives has taken thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from one or more major telecom companies, including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and the National Cable Television Association (NCTA), an ISP trade group.

None of the Representatives are from Minnesota.

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About Ann Treacy

I have a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science. I have been interested or involved in providing access to information through the Internet since 1994, when I worked for Minnesota’s first Internet service provider. I am pleased to be a part of the Blandin on Broadband Team. I also work with MN Coalition on Government Information, Minnesota Rural Partners, and the American Society for Information Science and Technology.

I think it’s interesting to know how or if representatives support the policies that I (or the reader) support and if that topic is broadband then I think it’s interesting to know what might impact that support. In other parts of my life I do the same thing – if someone supports my views I like to know why and if they don’t I like to know why. And if it’s important to me, I like to figure out how to discuss my issues in a way that reaches the policy makers. The more you know, the more you know.